Banerjee said, “Have some faith… we will discuss together, they were busy with elections, we were busy with festivals… every state has its own problem… we are ready to fight every inch.” On the prospect of an alliance between the TMC-Congress and Left parties in West Bengal, he said the move had to be taken for the group’s welfare. “I don’t have a problem if they have a real reason,” he said. They (Congress) have only two seats in Bengal… I am ready for talks.
Banerjee said, “First you have to be mentally prepared, agree in principle, then maybe one, two political parties may not agree, but if most of the political parties agree to seat sharing one by one.” Come along.” The Chief Minister said, “I have no differences with anyone, I have political differences… but I have no feelings of revenge, I am with anyone. I can work.” When asked about the Left parties, she said, “I have no problem.”
Asked about the possibility of including parties like Bharat Rashtra Samiti and YSR Congress Party in the opposition alliance, she said, “Some have agency problems, some have regional problems, so I will not comment.” If the ‘Bharat’ alliance is strong, then everyone will join it.” Regarding Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Banerjee said it was unlikely to join the alliance. Banerjee said that agencies are being used against the opposition. He said, “We will not come under pressure from agencies. we will fight
Commenting on the BJP, she said, “We don’t have a problem with a person, we have a problem with their ideology.” Banerjee praised leaders like Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley, Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, Vasundhara Raje and Shivraj Singh. Chauhan. Referring to BJP leaders, she said, “I wouldn’t say they are bad people.” Responding to a question about the BJP’s growing influence, especially in the Hindi heartland, Banerjee said, “BJP is not strong, we are weak.” We need to work together to tackle this.
She also said that she does not discriminate between the Hindi belt and other areas. On the BJP’s claim that Prime Minister Modi will get a third term, Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Banerjee said she does not believe anything has been decided for 2024 yet. However, Banerjee admitted that the BJP poses a major challenge to the ‘Bharat’ coalition and said that they have “money power” that the opposition does not have.
“They have a lot of money, no one can question it,” Banerjee said. But whatever little money some political parties have, they (the government) are sending agencies to take it away. Muscle power, money power, agency power…and the opposition has no power. Just their voice, that too has been completely destroyed.” On the face of the coalition’s prime ministerial post, Banerjee said any decision would be taken after the elections. Banerjee said, “When many political parties are together, it is a democracy, there are different states, there are different ideas, there are different views, but ultimately ‘India’ is a platform where we are fighting together.
He said, “BJP has no allies. The NDA (National Democratic Alliance) is over. We are not like that. After the election we will have to see the results and then announce the Prime Ministerial candidate. All parties will decide on this. Banerjee accused the BJP-led central government of undermining the federal structure by cutting central funds for states ruled by non-BJP parties. He said his home state was the “biggest victim”.
Banerjee is in Delhi on a three-day visit, during which she is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday and discuss the issue of pending central funds for West Bengal. Banerjee said, “They have withheld all the money for Bengal. There is only one tax, GST. They collect taxes, not state governments. They are destroying the federal structure in every opposition-ruled state and West Bengal is the worst sufferer.
He said, “Now they are asking us to give the Prime Minister’s name and the BJP symbol for each scheme… If they had asked us to give the Government of India symbol, we would have had no problem. Or give both the Government of India and Bengal government symbols. “They cannot impose that we have to give the BJP election symbol. We did not say anything during the G20 as it was an international event. But we cannot tolerate it now,” the Chief Minister said. Asked about her opinion on ), Banerjee said there should be 100 per cent paper trail recording. Banerjee said, “The infrastructure is already there, why are we not implementing it?”
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(Apart from the headline, this story has not been edited by the NDTV team and is published directly from the syndicate feed.)